Excerpt

a few pages from The Rune Primer

The
Rune Primer
A Down-to-Earth Guide to the Runes

by

Sweyn Plowright
Organiser, Rune-Net

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Second Edition

© 2006
 ii

Copyright © 2006
by Sweyn Plowright

All rights reserved. No part of this book, either in part or in

whole may be reproduced transmitted or utilised in any form
or by any means electronic, photographic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without the permission in
writing from the Publisher, except for brief quotations
embodied in literary articles and reviews.

ISBN 978-1-84728-246-0
 iii

Contents

1............................ INTRODUCTION 1

2......IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT 3

3............................... OLD SOURCES 8

3.1 ........................ ELDER FUTHARK 10
3.2 ................... YOUNGER FUTHARK 12
3.3 ........... ANGLO-SAXON FUTHORC 14
3.4 ............................. RUNE NAMES 16
3.5 ..............................RUNE POEMS 20
3.6 ............................. INSCRIPTIONS 42
4.................. THE RUNIC REVIVAL 43
4.1 ...........................THE ARMANEN 43
4.2 ............. THE CURRENT REVIVAL 44
5......................................CONCEPTS 47
5.1 .......................................ORLOG 47
5.2 ........................................WYRD 47
5.3 ................................. HAMINGJA 48
6.........................ESOTERIC RUNES 49
6.1 ...................... INTERPRETATIONS 49
6.2 .............................. TECHNIQUES 63
7................................... RESOURCES 65

8............................ MYTH BUSTING 113

 iv

Acknowledgements
This new edition of the beginners guide was made possible
by the suggestions and requests of the members of Rune-Net.
Special thanks to my wife Kara, who’s unfailing support and
understanding have enabled the completion of this and many
other projects.

New in this Edition

In the Resources section there are new translations of the

Rune Poems, and discussion of some of the authors of
esoteric runology. Also, a new chapter with discussion of the
many popular myths about the runes.
 1

1 Introduction

Rune-Net is an international online community of students of

the Runes. We range in experience from over 25 years study
to those who have only just discovered runes. I have taken on
the task of writing a basic introduction to the Runes after
many requests from new RN members for such a book.

The problem with the many New-Age rune manuals is a

general lack of proper research. It does not take a great deal
of research to write a reasonable introduction to the runes,
yet most have chosen to write superficially about runes while
padding out their books with large amounts of New Age,
Wiccan, or Eastern esotericism. They cash in on the
popularity of runes, with little regard to their proper cultural
and religious context. Those of the modern Northern
Traditions see this as not only poor research, but the greatest
disrespect for an ancient cultural heritage.

On the other hand, the problem with the more reliable and
academic works is that they are often rather dry and obscure
for beginners. They tend to throw the beginner in at the deep
end. In some ways the more academic popular writers
require more caution in reading, as their own agendas and
inventions are harder for the beginner to see.

One thing students asked for was a more concise and plain
writing style. Most of the books they reviewed were found to
be too padded out and wordy. They lacked focus and
structure, and made it difficult for students to gain a clear
basic picture.

The purpose of this book is to keep it brief and to the point, to

stick to the known facts and established conventions, and to
avoid unnecessary elaborations, while still including some
useful extra information. It should therefore be a concise and
handy primer on the runes, with respect for their cultural and
 2

religious context. It is intended as a starting point. Not a

complete volume of everything, but a basic foundation from
which anyone can begin their studies from an informed
perspective. With this grounding, the student should be able
to read further, with the discretion to sort some of the wheat
from the chaff.
 3

2 Importance of Context

The Runes were used by the Germanic tribes from at least

1800 years ago until about 1000 years ago, when they were
increasingly replaced by the Roman alphabet we use today.
Their use survived in various forms in parts of Scandinavia
until the 1700s. The Germanic tribes inhabited a large area of
Northern Europe and were distinguished by their culture and
language. The descendants of the Germanic tribes became the
peoples of the countries whose native languages are
Germanic. The main modern Germanic languages are
English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and
Icelandic.

The Runes were seen by the Germanic peoples as more than a

system of writing. They were an integral part of their magical
and religious culture. Although not much is actually known
about their practices, enough examples have survived to give
us an idea about the importance and respect the Runes held.
We know that they were often used in magic, spells of
protection, and for success in battle, as well as for healing.

The word “rune” can also mean a mystery or secret. Not only
are there written characters we call runes, but spells and
incantations could also be called runes. The Futhark runes
were a special kind of mystery.

While studying rune manuals, we must be wary of those

claiming to teach "traditional" runic practices, as we must ask
about their sources. Many New Age manuals will invent or
borrow ideas, and claim them to be ancient tradition, either
without mentioning sources, or by a wild interpretation of an
obscure part of an ancient source. Always check these sources
and decide if they actually support the writer’s assertions.
 10

3.1 Elder Futhark

The Elder Futhark is usually presented in three groups of

eight (Aetts = families).

First Aett

f u th a r k g w

Second Aett

h n i j ei p z s

Third Aett

t b e m l ng d o
 43

4 The Runic Revival

The modern runic traditions have various origins. Some of

these origins are based on the interpretation of academic
knowledge. Some are based on less reliable guesswork. In
keeping with its purpose as a beginners guide, this chapter
will take a brief look at the better known sources. Students
should read further from the book list.

4.1 The Armanen

During the general occult revival of the early 1900s, Guido

von List was inspired to publish his own vision of the Runes
as part of a spiritual revitalisation of the German-speaking
people.

Influenced by the works of Wagner and Nietsche, von List’s

system fitted in well with the pan-German nationalistic
romanticism which was to evolve into Nazism by the 1930s.
These runes became potent symbols of organisations within
the Third Reich, and led to runes becoming a taboo subject
for many years after the war.

List’s system was based on the Younger Futhark, with some

odd variant rune forms, and the addition of two runes to
make 18.

His interpretations were largely based on the 18 riddles or

spells mentioned in the Havamal. These are called “lays”
(ljo∂) in the original, and were unlikely to have referred to
futhark runes. The word “rune” can also refer to a spell or
mystery.
 44

This method of interpretation, and the influence of Indian

philosophy, popular in occult circles at the time, make the
system now seem rather quaint and no more “authentic” than
modern New Age fusions.

Like the Theosophists and other occult groups of the period,

the Armanen system adapted techniques from Yoga, and
incorporated them into their practices.

4.2 The Current Revival

The current runic revival really began with the explosion of

interest in the 1970s in JRR Tolkien’s novels. The growing
New Age movement was ripe for powerful magical fantasy.
Runes featured prominently in these books. This was not
surprising; Tolkien was a professor of Nordic literature and
drew heavily on Germanic mythological themes.

The popularisation of rune magic began in the early 1980s.

There had been the occasional rune manual before that, but
these had been largely focused on the Armanic system.

Around 1980, Michael Howard’s early books were the first

popular manuals to attempt to look at the Runes from their
Germanic historical and mythological perspective. These
early works look very rough to us now, with rather unusual
shapes, inconsistent order, and not all of the runes discussed.
But the 24 Elder runes and 3 Aetts are mentioned. His
interpretations are of more interest, as they do seem to
influence most of the later writers. His later work (1985) is
much better.

In 1982, Ralph Blum produced a commercial hit with a slim

book packaged with a bag of rune tiles. His book took the
standard Elder Futhark , added a “blank rune” to represent
wyrd or fate, and reorganised the row into a 5 by 5 grid.
Although he mentions the futhark order and the 3 by 8
 45

traditional arrangement in the introduction, he chooses to

completely rearrange them for his system.

His interpretations are superficial, and seem to owe more to I

Ching than to the Germanic system. This makes it an easy
way for people to get started, and accounts for its huge
success. However, to those interested in the revival of the
Northern Traditions, he is seen as a cultural pirate, cashing in
on our traditions at the expense of their integrity.

A turning point came in 1984 with the publication of Edred

Thorsson’s book on Rune Magic “Futhark”. This was the first
popular manual to include really accurate academic
information on the Runes. Thorsson holds a PhD in Germanic
studies, and his education shows.

His 1987 “Runelore” builds on the wealth of information.

Although beginners have found these works somewhat dry,
they are an essential part of modern esoteric runology.

Like other modern occult writers Thorsson is not without

critics. His academic material is so good, and he writes with
such authority, that it is easy to take the whole lot as
“authentic”. Reconstructionists point out that much of
Thorsson’s system is not based on elder sources, but like the
New Age fusions, is a composite of various non-Germanic
magical ideas with Jungian psychology and his own
inventions.

The ideas of Thorsson most often criticised by Asatruar are;

his Cabala-like tree with its connecting paths, his Armanen
style rune yoga, and his insistence on tying the Runes to a
modern Western Left Hand Path philosophy. Some see his
Germanic psychology as a lot like Jung’s model with Norse
names slotted in.

Reconstructionists feel that Thorsson tends to start his books

with excellent historical information, but then he goes on to
present a system with little connection to the source tradition,
 46

without clearly identifying his speculations, implying that

they are somehow “authentic”. Hard liners would argue that
he has done much the same as the New Agers in inventing
“tradition”. The more moderate are grateful for the academic
parts, and choose how much of the rest to use in their own
practices.

Some of these problems have led to friction with many

Asatru groups. Thorsson explains in Runelore that he
originally intended to work organically within Asatru, but
now finds that he and his followers must work as “outsiders”
and carry on the “genuine” tradition alone. Many Asatruar
see this as somewhat arrogant. However, “Futhark”, and
“Runelore” remain the best sources for detailed research once
the speculative parts are identified.

Since the mid 1980s, there have been many New Age rune
manuals. Although some have interesting insights, few are
worth much comment. They have so far been characterised
by a superficial approach, poor research, and a mix and
match attitude that removes the Runes from their magico-
religious culture. Often these writers will merely take the
rune basics from another manual, and slot it into whatever
system interests them; tarot, Wicca, shamanism, etc.

While nobody can claim to have a complete authentic runic

system, we can at least become familiar with the old sources,
and identify the new accretions in order to decide for
ourselves which parts to adopt. In this way we can avoid
falling into the trap of cultism, or the self-delusion of the
fantasy traditions. If we want to defend our heritage from
New Age piracy, we must be equally wary of our own urges
to accept attractive inventions without question.

We need not reject the new out of hand, but neither should
we count on a neat, complete system packaged for us. The
way forward is to work within the Northern culture, and
enable the re-emergence of a natural runic tradition from the
foundation of the surviving lore.
 66

The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem

First 24 Runes

Old English:

(ffeoh ) by† frófur fíra gehwylcum;

sceal ∂éah manna gehwylc miclun hyt dælan,
gif hé wile for Drihtne dómes hléotan.

Modernised script:

(feoh) by† frófur fíra gehwylcum;

sceal ∂éah manna gehwylc miclun hyt dælan,
gif hé wile for Drihtne dómes hléotan.

Modern English Translation:

Money1 is a comfort to humans all;

but each one should deal it out abundantly,
if he wants before the Lord2 to chance judgement.

1
Wealth. From a word originally meaning cattle.
2
Drihten. Lord. Usually a king or deity.
 79

The Old Icelandic Rune Poem

(fé) er frænda róg/ ok flæ∂ar viti/ ok grafsei∂s gata.

Money9 is kinsmens’ quarrel/ and flood-tide's token10/ and

necromancy's11 road.

aurum12 fylkir13
gold

(úr) er sk√ja grátr/ ok skára †verir/ ok hir∂is hatr.

drizzle is the clouds' tears/ and the harvest’s ruin/ and the
herder's hate.

umbre vísi
shadow

9
Money or cattle, indicators of of wealth.
10
Kenning for booty. The flood (high) tide was best for raiding up rivers from
the sea.
11
Graf-seidh = “grave-magic”.
12
Latin word relating to each rune’s meaning.
13
Each verse includes a term for King or leader demonstrating the rune
sound.
 98

Authors
Here is a brief discussion of the better-known authors of
books on esoteric runology.

Edred Thorsson

Probably the most controversial of the popular authors,

Thorsson has published several extensive books on Runes in
magic, divination, and religion. He has also published more
scholarly works under his real name Stephen Flowers. His
academic standard is high, and he does have a PhD in
Germanic studies.

As one might expect from such an author, the books have

plenty of accurate historical detail. The two best known are
his first, “Futhark” 1984, and “Runelore” 1986, both still in
popular use by New-Age and Reconstructionist rune users
alike.

Thorsson calls his esoteric system “Odian”, as opposed to

“Odinist”. While Odinists revere or worship Odin, Odians
try to emulate Odin’s discovery of the runes as written in the
Havamal. To achieve this, he employs the idea of
“internalising” the runes through rune yoga. These methods
were developed by early 20th century German Armanic
occultists Marby, Kummer, and Spiesberger, and have been
adapted by Thorsson to fit the Elder Futhark.

To properly understand Thorsson’s philosophical direction,

we need to look at his long involvement with the Temple of
Set, in which he holds one of their most senior ranks.
Although he has made an effort in recent years to distance
himself and his Odian efforts from ToS associations, and
Odians can be quite defensive about being linked to satanism,
the essence of Odianism can only really be understood in the
context of its neo-satanic roots.
 122

The Blank Rune

Perhaps the most hotly debated argument between rune

users today. Traditionalists fume at the idea of adding a 25th
non-rune. New-Agers like it. Where did it come from?

In 1982 Ralph Blum published his “Book of Runes”. The book

became a runaway success, partly due to the nifty set of
ceramic divination tiles and pouch that came with it.

Blum claims that this blank rune idea came from a hand
made rune set he bought in England the 1970s. He kept them
unused for a few years, until one day he found them and
started playing with them.

Blum decided to ignore the traditional Futhark order and

three Aetts division (3 rows of 8 runes), and re-organised the
25 tiles into a random grid. Seeing no significance in the
pattern, he decided to read them from right to left, and it
happened that the blank tile was in the bottom left corner,
thus last. It also happened that Mannaz was in the top right,
thus first. These positions convinced him that there must be a
deep significance to his new order. He then proceeded to use
the I Ching (a Chinese method of divination) to assist him in
interpreting each rune.

Traditionalists reading his account were horrified. Criticism

was further fuelled by the fact that the book was such a
commercial success. For most people who use runes for
divination, this was their first, and often only, book on runes.

There are no references to a blank rune in any of the extensive

literature on runes before Blum’s book, so we can be quite
certain that the idea dates to the mid 1970s at the earliest.
There is certainly no evidence of a blank rune in the runic
inscriptions, rune poems, or other Nordic literature dating
from the time when runes were still in common use.

Search terms: blank rune, Ralph Blum, I Ching

 144

Erilaz

Another of Krause’s theories was that the word Erilaz, which

appears in a small number of inscriptions, had a meaning of
“Rune Magician”. This was taken further by Thorsson, who
postulated a cult or guild of rune magicians connected with a
tribe called by the Romans “Heruli”.

There are about a dozen early inscriptions of the form “I the

Eril, wrote this” (-az being the masculine singular word
ending). There is no indication in the inscriptions that gives a
clue to the meaning of the word. However, there is fairly
good linguistic evidence.

It is accepted by many scholars that there is a linguistic link

between the name of the Germanic warriors listed by the
Romans as “Heruli”, the “Erilaz” from the runic inscriptions,
and the Old Norse “Jarl”, Old English “Eorl”, and modern
English “Earl”. However, there is still much debate and
disagreement among the experts, many do not accept that
“Erilaz” from inscriptions has anything to do with the actual
groups called “Heruli”.

If we look at the linguistics, the only viable theory connects

all of these words to warriors or armies. The reconstructed
Germanic root is “*Harjaz”, = “army”. The root word
survives remarkably little changed in modern English as “to
harry”, a term still used in the military to describe repeated
surprise attacks designed to wear the enemy down, or test
their strength. It also survives in German as “Heer” =
“Army”. It is also the root word of the warriors of Valhalla,
the “Einherjar”, and of names such as “Hereward” (army-
protector).

The Heruli were “the army people”, “those who harry”, or

“the marauders”. “Ek Erilaz” almost certainly meant “I the
warrior”. The word obviously had a lot of prestige, and this is
not surprising in a culture that valued warriorship so highly.
The word gained further in prestige until it came to mean
 145

“army leader” (Jarl/Earl). There is a clear linguistic theme in

which the meaning of the root word remains consistent. It is
highly unlikely that such a word would have diverted its
meaning so radically that it ever suggested “rune magician”
at any stage.

There is mention in the Rigsthula that a Jarl should be an

educated person, who should know runes and also magic,
among many other things. It can not be interpreted as saying
that a Jarl was a rune magician, merely that an ideal Jarl
should be broadly educated. Warriorship was still the Jarl’s
primary business. Virtually all other sources place Jarls
squarely in their military and political occupations.

Nothing in the linguistic or historical evidence suggests

“Erilaz” means “rune magician”. In fact the bulk of evidence
points against it. The most widely accepted meaning of “ek
Erilaz” is “I the Earl”, indicating a warrior of high standing or
a commander who is stating his authority.

Search terms: ek erilaz, Wolfgang Krause, harjaz, harjan,

harjilaz. See also Oxford Dictionary of Etymology for Erilaz
as origin of Earl.
__________

Further Linguistic Information

Proto Germanic reconstruction (dating before 100ce)

*Harjaz = “Army” (cognate with German Heer = Army)

*-il- = “person belonging to” (cognate with English –ling) Example:

Earthling

*Harjilaz = “Army Person” = Warrior

Note 1: Cognate words = words directly related in form, meaning, &

history.

Note 2: that j is pronounced as a y as in English “yes” (or the J in German

“Ja”) Eg. Har-yaz. Har-yil-az.
 146

Historical Instances
Roman: Heruli, Greek Eruloi (dating from around 250ce onwards)

Runic: Erilaz (dating from around 200ce – 400ce)

Further Evolution in written texts:

Old Saxon – Erl – Man, Warrior

Old English – Eorl – Warrior Leader, Noble
Old Norse – Jarl – Warrior Leader, Noble
Modern English – Earl – Noble Rank

All of these refer to warriors or military leadership.

Most Likely Evolution of the word:

*Harjil-... Heril-… Eril-... Erl ... Eorl/Jarl ... Earl

Army Person - Warrior - Warrior Leader - Rank/Nobility

Erilaz/Herilaz, Heruli Phonology

When the Romans asked the raiders "what do you call yourselves?" they
would have answered "the warriors", Heriloz (plural of Herilaz). A
common effect in the phonology of words with such endings is that the
preceding vowel is conditioned by the vowel in the ending as it changes.
This happens as the mouth unconsciously changes shape in anticipation
of the next vowel. This would have caused lowering and rounding of the i
as the ending changed from "-az" to "-oz" (singular to plural).

The conditioning of the unstressed i would have made it sound like a u,

making Heriloz sound like Heruloz. Hence the Romanised "Heruli" rather
than "Herili".

The initial h in *harjaz was never dropped (eg. Heer), most likely because
there were other words that needed to be distinguished from it by the h.
Dropping it would have caused it to sound like another existing word.
However, with Herilaz, there were no competing words. In this situation
an initial h often becomes optional.

Erilaz is often transcribed ErilaR. The final R indicates a transitional

period as the Germanic final z evolved into the Old Norse final r.

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